


man in the armor

by bisexualbarry



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff, Humor, Identity Porn, Identity Reveal, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Steve is a little shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:49:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22062829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bisexualbarry/pseuds/bisexualbarry
Summary: Tony's under the impression that only two other people knows he's Iron Man: Pepper and Rhodey. He follows the lie that the Avenger is his bodyguard closely, so he believed he was in the clear.Steve just had to play by different rules, didn't he?
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 7
Kudos: 161
Collections: EBD Stocking Fills





	man in the armor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starxreactor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starxreactor/gifts).



> im fairly sure this is all ooc and wildly over the place, but!! i love you lots, noodles, i hope you enjoy this nonetheless <3

Drumming his fingers lightly on the table, Tony stares blankly out the window. There’s a stack of papers sitting in front of him and his phone’s ringing. He knows from experience that it’s Pepper calling to remind him of a meeting he has soon. He assumes, anyway. His schedule lately has been one meeting after the next. Frankly, he’s exhausted. Running Stark Industries from a business perspective has never been enjoyable. He’d much rather be downstairs in his lab.

A familiar click of heels sounds before someone pushes through his office door. Just from the scent of her perfume, Tony knows it’s Pepper.

“You aren’t answering your phone,” she states plainly. He knows from years of experience that there’s a heavy layer of annoyance hiding in her words. She’s excellent at hiding it. “I came to remind you that you have–”

“A meeting?” Tony guesses, wilting a little under Pepper’s glare. “Sorry, sorry. Didn’t sleep well last night.”

Pepper’s glare softens. “Have you been taking your meds?”

“Yes, _Mom_ ,” Tony says, earning an eye roll from his redheaded assistant. “It was, ya know, other stuff.”

Pepper sighs. “You really should manage your time better. Especially if you’re going to hide yourself in your lab to repair your suits. You need sleep, Tony.”

Tony waves a hand. “I know. Just… shit’s hard. Especially with all the bozos coming out of the woodworks. I haven’t even been able to find all the tech those lovely little aliens left behind. Steve thinks he has a lead, but I haven’t heard any updates.”

Pepper lets another sigh, though this time it sounds more fond than annoyed. “You’ll have time to play with your boyfriend later. Right now, at least get this paperwork done.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Tony denies, but Pepper’s already walking away.

Tony sighs softly, his head lightly thumping onto the desk in front of him. The headache that’s been slowly growing in intensity increases as his phone rings once more. He knows, logically, he can’t miss anymore meetings. Pepper’s already yelled at him plenty this week alone. Tony’s just so _tired._

With a defeated sigh, Tony sits up and gets back to work.

Tony’s in the lab when Steve finds him. There’s music playing loudly through the space that turns down when the soldier enters the room. Tony’s still hyper-focused on the project in front of him, staring down at it with an intensity to rival Steve’s when he’s in the middle of a battle. It isn’t until there’s a light tapping on the desk next to him does Tony startle out of his work.

“How long have you been here?” Tony asks, wiping his hands dry on a spare rag he has laying around. His hands are cramping lightly, but it’s a welcome relief compared to the meetings he has to endure during the daylight hours.

“Just got here,” Steve answers. He peers over Tony’s shoulder. “What are you working on?”

“Updating the Iron Man armor,” Tony answers. He eyes his work so far. “I have to make a new faceplate. The last one got too damaged to salvage.”

“Iron Man’s face is alright, though?”

Tony pauses. Sometimes he forgets it’s only him, Pepper, and Rhodey in on his secret. To everybody else, the Avenger is just there as a bodyguard for the billionaire. The lie had been Pepper’s idea. 

“Yeah, he’s fine,” Tony tells him after a moment. Thankfully, Steve doesn’t call him out on the hesitation. “A little banged up, but my armor does miracles, Cap. Any injuries he sustained will go away quickly enough.”

“Good.” Steve stands there a moment, hesitating. An amused look passes over his face before he schools it back. “You do good work, Tony. I assume Iron Man appreciates all the work you put into his suit. I know I do.”

“His suit or yours?” Tony jokes, even though he already knows the answer. “Do you need yours patched up?”

Steve’s clad in a pair of jeans and a soft looking light blue tee. Blue always looks nice on Steve, no matter what he wears. The lighter shades seem to bring out his eyes more, though.

“No, I’m good, thank you.”

They stare at each other for a moment before Tony can’t help but break the silence. “Why did you come down here, Steve?”

Steve shifts on his feet, suddenly looking nervous. It isn’t something Tony gets to see on his usually collected features very often. It knocks him momentarily off kilter.

“I wanted to know if I could, you know, talk to Iron Man,” Steve says after a moment. “I wanted to ask him something.”

Tony blinks in surprise. Logically, he knows Steve means him. They banter enough on and off the field that they get along well enough. Despite that, however, Tony still has a hard time separating the two halves in his mind. He’s both parts, but only those closest to him are aware of that.

“Why did you come to me, then?” Tony swallows nervously after he asks. Maybe the reason Steve’s even down here in the first place is because, somehow, he’s figured it out. Steve’s been working his way under the metaphorical armor he wore; it made sense that Steve would also get through the physical. For once, though, Tony doesn’t find himself nervous at the realisation. Rather, he feels _relief_.

Breaking through Tony’s thoughts, Steve says, “I figured you would know where he might be.”

It’s a simple answer based off basic knowledge. Iron Man is Tony’s bodyguard. It’s smart to think Tony would know where he stays when he isn’t in the suit. For a brief moment, Tony almost cracks a joke about looking right in front of him. Instead, he swallows everything down, and says, “I don’t know, Cap.”

Steve raises an eyebrow. “You don’t know where your own bodyguard is?”

“If you didn’t notice, he got a bit banged up. I gave him the night off, figured he’d need it.” Tony’s not looking at Steve as he answers.

There’s bits of armor scattered around on the desk in front of him. He should be working on something for his company, but his mind is wandering too much to focus on anything that doesn’t already feel like a comforting routine. There’s comfort in the flashes of gold and red that reflect the tiniest amount under his lab’s fluorescent lighting.

From somewhere next to him, Steve sighs. With nothing else to say, there’s soon footsteps following the resigned sigh, heading all the way towards the exit. They falter for a moment before he continues and heads back to his own apartment.

Tony drops the wrench he had been messing with to run a hand down his face. He feels like he aged a few years from the conversation. There’s an uncomfortable feeling starting from the pit of his stomach and travels through his limbs. Distantly, he knows why. He knows it’s disappointment. Rather than acknowledge it at all, he picks back up the tool he was using and gets back to fixing the armor.

**~*~**

They’re in the middle of a battle when another feeling crops up. Thor’s fighting the large creature from the sky with him. Clint’s on a rooftop nearby shooting at the thing whenever and wherever he can. Tony isn’t sure where Natasha is, but he trusts her enough that she knows what she’s doing. Steve is right below him, in the path of the creature’s destruction.

Hulk is… well Tony isn’t sure why Hulk isn’t here yet helping. He’s about to make a joke that traffic must be bad when the creature suddenly moves and heads straight towards Steve. For a panicked moment, Tony is sure Steve is going to be flattened. He shoots right at the thing’s closest eye and gets him to stop. It roars loudly, a large foot going down and barely missing Steve.

Tony’s heart feels like it’s in his throat. He pushes it down and focuses back on what he’s doing.

 _“Thanks, Iron Man. I was sure I was about to be a pancake,”_ Steve cracks over the comms.

“A patriotic pancake,” Tony quips back. The banter is familiar and comfortable. This is what he always looks forward to.

_“Are your repulsors new? Thought you said you weren’t going to update them again.”_

Leave it to Steve to notice that. It doesn’t surprise him, though, but he is thankful for the mask on his suit. He would deny for eternity for the way his cheeks warmed.

“I don’t exactly have a say,” Tony says, grinning. “Though I can’t complain.”

 _“Tony’s great at thinking those things up. I really don’t know how he does it,”_ Steve says casually. Tony nearly misses his shot at hearing that.

“Yeah,” Tony replies, weaker than his other comments prior.

Thor makes a face next to him at seeing Tony falter, but gets distracted again before he can comment on the odd behavior. Small miracles.

It’s not like Steve doesn’t make comments about Tony’s work on the armor, because he does, but it still seems to make Tony stumble every time. He’s heard time and time again how great his engineering is, and how wonderful his inventions are. Pepper would have something to say if she knew the full extent of how Tony reacts to hearing them compliments from _Steve_. Which is why she doesn’t know.

For now, anyway.

Hulk shows up just then, and they make quick work of the creature.

Pepper ends up cornering him at work. Tony isn’t the least bit surprised by it, but he still pouts when she shuts the door.

“Why are you moping this time?” she asks, cutting straight to the point.

“I’m not moping,” Tony protests. He gives her a grin when she levels him with a look. “I’m right as rain!”

Pepper rolls her eyes. Honestly, as a personal assistant, she should be a lot nicer to him. She gets away with too much, and tells her as much. He earns another look for that.

“You and I both know why I ‘get away with it’,” she says, sitting on the edge of his desk. Her face softens after that and she sighs. “You’re pathetic, you know that?”

Tony sputters. “Why on Earth would you say that?”

Pepper looks like she’s repressing another eye roll. “Your moping. Or should I call it pining?” She smiles victoriously when Tony snorts. “As weird as it sounds, I think you’re jealous of yourself.”

“Me? Jealous?” Tony raises an eyebrow. “How did you come to that conclusion?”

Pepper pretends to look nonchalant as she looks at her nails. “I may have heard through the grapevine that Steve commented on your work.”

“How— you know what, I don’t want to know. You’re like a villain with how easily you hear shit.”

Pepper laughs, looking back up at Tony. “Steve compliments you all the time. What was different this time?”

Tony bites his bottom lip. “He asked about talking to Iron Man last night. I don’t know… it felt different this time. Which, I know sounds about as bullshit as it is.” He looks out the window and sighs, collecting his thoughts. When he speaks again, it’s quieter. “Pepper, I think he knows it’s me in the suit.”

Pepper raises an eyebrow. “Why do you think that?”

“Gut feeling? I’m not sure.” He runs a hand over his face. “I’m just overthinking, sorry.”

Pepper’s quiet for long enough that Tony has to glance over at her. She’s smiling at him with a fond look on her face. “You may be,” she says after a moment. “You also may not be. Knowing you, you’ll just keep stewing in it until something really obvious smacks you in the face. Sometimes, not even then.”

Tony huffs out a laugh, trying to hide it and failing miserably. “Yeah, whatever.”

They’re both quiet a moment before Pepper’s standing up. “I’m not going to tell you how to read the room when it comes to Steve, or looking deeper into his words. You very well could just be overthinking what he said. Just… speak up for yourself when the time comes, alright? Don’t clam up like you usually do.”

Tony gives her a small nod and she presses a quick kiss to the top of his head before she’s heading out. In many ways, Pepper’s like a sister Tony’s always wanted. Though she teases him a lot, she always has his best interests at heart. If anything, she probably takes better care of him than he does himself. ****

**~*~** ****

Tony’s mindlessly working on something on his tablet in the living room when Steve comes strolling in. It’s been a week since Steve asked to speak to Iron Man. He’s had plenty of opportunity to speak to the man in the armor, but doesn’t for whatever reason. Instead, he avoids alone time at all. Even with Tony, which is… weird, come to think of it. But Tony pushes it out of his mind.

Steve settles on the couch a bit aways and flicks on the TV. He turns to the cooking channel and starts lightly sketching while a baking competition plays on screen. Neither of them are doing anything out of the norm, and it feels very domestic. It’s extremely comforting, and it scares him a bit. He never thought he would get the domestic life with a partner. Even though he doubts he knows how to read Steve past the obvious meaning of his words, it’s still nice to imagine.

“Do you know where Iron Man is today?” Steve asks, smiling as he does.

Tony blushes a little, but clears his throat. “As a matter of fact, I do,” he says. “He’s at home.”

Steve hums softly. “Is he doing work?”

“Um, considering he works for me, I doubt he can do that from home.” Tony looks back down at his tablet. “Unless he has, like, a robot to follow him around.”

“A mini Iron Man? I didn’t think he could get any smaller.”

Tony lets out a laugh before quickly covering his mouth. “He really isn’t that short out of suit, you know.”

Steve hums again, and it makes Tony look up once more. “How would you know?”

“I hired him, duh. I had to do a whole background check to make sure he wouldn’t kill me.” Tony can’t look right at Steve as he stumbles through fibs. Steve’s smirking like he knows something Tony doesn’t.

“How tall is he? 5’7?”

“5’ _9_ ,” Tony says before pausing. Steve’s smirk has grown wider. “You asshole! How long have you known?”

“Couple of months. I asked Pepper for conformation, and she said it wasn’t her place to say. But based on her wink, I’d say that was a pretty good answer as any.” Steve sets his notebook aside. “I was seeing how long it would take you, but since you’re set on taking your sweet time…”

“Why didn’t you say anything when you asked me to talk to Iron Man?” Tony can’t help but ask. He’s playing with the edge of his tablet so he has something to do with his hands.

“I was seeing if you’d say something then. Make a joke about him being right in front of me.” He rubs the back of his neck. “It was a stupid idea, but I thought it would work since you always take the opportunity to make jokes, and all that.”

“I was thinking about it,” Tony answers honestly, laughing a bit. “What did you want to talk to him about?”

Steve’s cheeks turn pink. “Oh, uh. It doesn’t matter anymore, I suppose.”

“Out with it, Rogers,” Tony pokes, laughing a bit. “It was important enough then, it still is now.”

Steve looks at him in amusement. “I, uh. I was just going to ask if Iron Man would like to accompany me to dinner sometime soon. He’d have to be out of armor, though.”

“Out of armor, huh?” Tony asks. He’s having a difficult time hiding his smile. “I’m not sure I can convince him to show up out of it, but I’ll definitely have a talk with him about it.”

“I’m sure his boss will be willing to give him the day off,” Steve adds. “Just have to butter him up a bit.”

“The entire day, huh? I have to ask, what do you plan on doing with my bodyguard for an entire day, Rogers? I don’t have to give you the shovel talk, do I?”

Steve laughs. “No, no. His boss’s boss already gave it to me months ago.”

“Months ago, huh? Well, by that logic, I think Iron Man’s boss wouldn’t mind giving him the time off.” Tony’s grinning now alongside Steve. “Do I get to know what plans?”

“Nope. They’re a surprise.”

“As long as you wear blue, I don’t care what you do with him.”

Steve’s laughter makes all the dancing around worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> comments are much appreciated!! 💛
> 
> [my tumblr](http://bibibarry.tumblr.com)   
>  [my instagram](http://instagram.com/olivxrry)


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